


Love and a Bikini

by welshcanadian16



Category: Iron Man: Armored Adventures
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 01:49:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5145803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welshcanadian16/pseuds/welshcanadian16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a hot summer day and the trio of friends were too hot to do anything. To cool off, they go to the beach. What if all it took for Tony to realise how great his feelings are for Pepper is to see her in a bikini. How will he cope when he wants Pepper to be his girlfriend but can never find the right moment to do so? Will it even all happen at the beach? Or somewhere else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Love and a Bikini**

Chapter 1

To the beach!

It was a hot summer day in New York city and school was finished, including the Tomorrow Academy. The trio of friends, Tony, Pepper and Rhodey, had all finally finished high school and entering a new chapter of their lives...college! Even Tony could go since his dad had come back and became head of the company again, instead of his son.

Before thinking about their future, the three friends just wanted to have fun and, of course, be super heroes and help people if there is a crisis. The crime rate had been slow lately since the whole apocalypse and aliens trying to destroy the world problem they had.

It had been only one week since the end of the school year and Pepper, Rhodey and Tony were in their, as they call it, base of operations or armory. They were, for once, bored trying to find something fun to do. What made things worse, was that the air conditioning was not working. They were sweating like hell. Even Pepper didn't say much. Now that was weird.

After the longest minutes of silence, ever, Pepper perked up. Ready to ramble on with an idea she had just come up with to cure their boredness. Since it was extremely hot and humid, she knew exactly where they needed to go. This idea was much better than taking a cold shower.

Tony had his doubts about how Pepper's face started to light up, like she had an idea. Sometimes her ideas were really good, but they were also sometimes crazy and somewhat dangerous. Somehow though, that was one quality he liked about her. He had made up his mind, he did like her, but didn't know how to say it. He did, after all, kiss her cheek and hug her when they had finally defeated the alien invasion. Tony still didn't know how deep his feelings actually were. He did have an extremely high IQ but when it came to love, he was oblivious. He just needed a little push. He then got pulled out of his thinking bubble by the sound of the red head's voice.

Pepper squealed. "Tony! Rhodey! I have the best idea ever! What do you think it is?" Pepper then waited anxiously for the two boys to guess.

Rhodey answered first, rubbing hid neck. "Pep, I don't know if I even want to know. Remember last time you had an idea? I almost broke my legs!"

"Don't be such a baby! That idea was good! How was I suppose to know if we mixed those two liquids together it would explode! And I promise, this idea is completely safe."

Tony then cut in, seeming amused "Ok, ok tell us this 'safe' idea of yours." saying the word safe while emphasising it.

Pepper rolled her eyes and then started babbling on about her marvellous idea.

"Since we are dying of heat... let's go to the beach! We can swim, make sand castles. Oh! Oh! I can wear my new swimsuit. Come on guys it'll be fun. Please, please, please, pl..."

Before Pepper could continue, Rhodey cut her off before his ears bled. But he had to admit this was a good idea, for once.

"Ok Pepper we'll go to the beach! Just stop talking." Rhodes then looked at Tony waiting for his response.

Tony also liked his friend's idea, he hadn't gone to the beach in years. Especially with his two best friends.

"Sure let's go! We'll have to take a car though, it is a bit far and we can't use our armour, people will swarm around us. Will your mom mind if we use her car?" Tony turned to Rhodes,

"Yea it's fine she's out on a business trip anyway."

Pepper screamed out of delight, dragging her two friends by the arm and out of the armoury.

* * *

Pepper had told the two boys to pack their swimming stuff and that she would meet them in half a hour at Rhodey's house. They didn't even have time to reply, since Pepper had already disappeared, going to her house to retrieve the swimsuit she dearly wanted to put on. She couldn't wait to see Tony face when he saw her in it. She had a crus on him for quite a long time and was still waiting for him to make a move. The red head didn't count him making a move when he kissed her on the cheek after the Makluan invasion. Come on a kiss on the cheek! Twelve year olds did that, not eighteen year olds. She sometimes didn't get how clueless Tony was when it came to reviling his feelings.

Pepper had grabbed a towel, sunblock ad many other useful things to use at the beach. She then put her bathing suit underneath a summer dress and ran out of the door, barely saying goodbye to her father.

A dozen minutes later, she met up with the two teens waiting for her outside Rhodey's house. Pepper came up to them, out of breath from running a bit too fast. She wanted to say something but held her finger up, showing them to wait until she got her breath back.

"How did you get here before me! I ran the whole way!" Still a bit out of breath.

"My dad insisted on driving me, even if I could of used the iron man armor. He says he wants to spend the much time with me as possible since he missed two years of my life. Who can blame him, but he is still starting to get on my nerves." Tony shrugged.

"And well this is my house." Rhodey answered, pointing at the house behind him.

"Whatever, TO THE BEACH! I'm dying of heat!" Pepper cried, running towards the car. She had gotten her license six months ago and wanted to drive. Tony ran after her.

"No Pepper you are not driving! You drive way too fast!"

"No I don't! It's not my fault you drive like an old lady"

"Guys! Calm down, because you can't decide I'm driving." Rhodey cut in stealing the car keys from Pepper's hand.

The two friends agreed, he was probably the best driver out the three of them. He took all the safety precautions and didn't go too fast or too slow.

Tony and Pepper sat in the back and Rhodey sat in the driver's seat.

"ONWARDS!" Pepper screamed, impatient to get there.

 _"This is going to be a long car ride"_ Tony thought, knowing who would be talking all the way there.


	3. Tying the Not so easy Knot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a hot summer day and the trio of friends were too hot to do anything. To cool off, they go to the beach. What if all it took for Tony to realise how great his feelings are for Pepper is to see her in a bikini. How will he cope when he wants Pepper to be his girlfriend but can never find the right moment to do so? Will it even all happen at the beach? Or somewhere else?

Tony got pushed into the water, getting water splashed on his face by Pepper. The water was cold but refreshing, he shook for a minute but then slowly got used to the water. At least he wasn't sweating anymore, yet he probably still smelt gross. But he was a guy, it could pass. He then splashed Pepper back with more force, along with Rhodey entering the water fight. He had been running behind Tony when Pepper was pulling him towards the ocean.

"Hey that's not fair! Ganging up on a girl like that! One of you could be on my side!" Pepper screamed, pouting, but then burst out laughing, for she was having too much fun to be angry.

"Don't complain! Anyway I don't think you care. You are laughing!" Tony joked, with Rhodey next to him, laughing too.

For revenge, Pepper then tried to splash the two boys at the same time. She failed miserably, she didn't have enough strength in her upper arms.

Pepper loved to swim and the feel of water against her skin. She found it very relaxing. When she was child, she used to take swimming lessons. Every week, she would count the days until her next class. She then gave the classes up when she almost drowned. It wasn't anyone's fault, she had just gotten a cramp in her leg whilst she was doing the crawl in the deep end. She was luckily saved by her swimming teacher, it wasn't so bad, she did get CPR from her handsome, well built, instructor. It was too bad she was only eight years old. Pepper could almost say that it was her first kiss, other than the ones she gave her father.

_"YUCK! I can't believe I used to do that! And on the lips as well."_ Pepper had once thought to herself. It was just small pecks, but it was still kind of creepy, if she were to do it at the age of eighteen.

After that, her dad forbid her to take any more lessons. And what was she to do? She was only small kid. She still was too young to say 'no' to her father. Her father was very overprotective after what happened to her mother and it was understandable.

She actually didn't tell her father about the beach trip, fearing that it would bring back the painful memory of his only daughter almost drowning. She had just told him that she was hanging out with Tony and Rhodey the whole day. She did feel a little guilt, but she wasn't really lying. She did tell her dad the truth, she was hanging out with Tony and Rhodey. What he doesn't know can't hurt him.

Her guilt faded away when she got snapped out of her thinking state by a rush of water striking her face, shocking her so much she fell into the water, with a dumbfounded face. The water had seeped up to the upper part of her shoulders, for she was now in a sitting position, feeling the soft and gooey sand beneath her.

The two boys found the girl's face funny, just seeing her head and neck poking out of the water.

Tony did find it funny but he had something more important going on in the back of his mind. Asking Pepper to be his girlfriend. Tony had already made up his mind, he was going to ask her, well, try anyway. When he told himself he was going to do something, he would do it, not doing anything else until he had completed it. But this time it wasn't a invention to invent or a fighting a crime lord. This was completely different. It was Pepper and he didn't want to screw anything up.

Tony went up to Pepper, who was still almost submerged in the sea, and gave her a hand to get up, but she didn't take his hand and started blushing. He noticed that Pepper was holding her chest. That's when he saw why she was blushing, the string that had been tied around her neck to hold the bikini top up, had came untied. He blushed like hell, glowing red

"Don't look Tony! Pervert! Turn around!" Pepper screeched, clutching her chest even harder.

"Sorry!"

Tony turned around quickly, not able to calm down. Waiting for Pepper to tie her bikini.

_"This is so embarrassing! Why does this have to happen to me!"_ Pepper screamed in her head. Trying to mend the problem. But she couldn't. She needed more than two hands to tie the string back around her neck. She needed two hands holding the bikini up from falling and... well... showing her breasts and then two other hands to tie a knot. She needed someone to help her. Unfortunately, her two best friends were male and one of them she had a crush on.

Pepper had no choice though, she needed to ask Rhodey or Tony for help. She desperately wanted Rhodey to help her, since he was like a brother to her but he had fled.

_"Thanks a lot Rhodey, leave the moment I need you."_

When Rhodey had seen the predicament unfold in font of him, he decided to leave. This was the best way to get this couple together. It was obvious since day one that they had feelings for each other. So he crept away, like a thief in the night.

She didn't want Tony to help her. The feelings she felt towards the millionaire was completely different from brotherly love. The opposite actually, but she had no choice, it had to be him. Him or some stranger. She obviously picked him. She hoped he wouldn't touch her anywhere inappropriate by accident.

Pepper took a deep respiration and looked at Tony, still with his back turned around, slightly fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs. Pepper prayed that her face wasn't turning the same colour as her hair.

Tony was getting a little impatient, he was relieved that his face wasn't on fire anymore.

_"How long does it take to tie a knot?"_

Tony then heard Pepper call,

"Tony...I am in need of an extra pair of hands...can you help me?" It was the first time Tony had ever seen Pepper talk so slow and with such few words.

Tony's heart started to beat fast again. He was really nervous. he thought what Rhodey would tell him if he were here.

_"Dude, chill, you just have to tie a knot!"_

Almost straightaway, Tony answered Pepper's question.

"Sure...uhh...what do I have to do?" Tony asked nervously, hoping that he wouldn't be this nervous while asking Pepper to be his girlfriend.

Tony went around Pepper, now standing in back of her.

"You just have to tie the string around my neck...and I'll hold on to my...breas...upper half."

Tony tried to say 'sure' but instead he just nodded, unsure that if he spoke his voice wouldn't come out.

* * *

After the nervous ordeal was finished, both friends, exhaled, happy that the dilemma was over. Tony nor Pepper wouldn't say they didn't like it. Tony touching Pepper's fair skin and Pepper feeling Tony's gentle touch. It was simply really nerve-racking. What made it even worse was that they both were showing a lot of skin.

Tony had tied the knot and backed away quickly. It was actually quite hard for him even if he just had to tie a knot, but he was getting distracted by the back of Pepper's neck. He thought he was going crazy, thinking how hot Pepper's neck truly was. He knew he wasn't a perverted guy, but this wasn't helping his case.

"Let's go back to the shore Tony. It seems like we've misplaced a best friend." Pepper explained, with a hint of anger in her voice.

She wanted to have a talk with Rhodey, knowing that he purposely backed away, knowing that she would only have Tony left to help her. She was going to make his ears bleed, but also wanted to thank him, for getting Tony so close to her. But of course she wouldn't thank him, she would sound too perverted and Rhodey would laugh at her.

"Yeah good idea, we'll go see if Rhodey wet back to the place by the pier where all our stuff is." Tony replied, now back to acting as normal as he could be with Pepper.

Tony actually didn't want to go find Rhodey, he wanted some alone time with Pepper. He had to tell her some important things and was only going to say them in front of the red head and nobody else, especially Rhodes.

"Pepper, you know what? Let's not go find Rhodey, he's probably busy...sunbathing. Let's just take a walk by the shore line. Feel the soggy sand against our feet."

Pepper was ecstatic, but keeping it inside her, trying not to look very happy. She just nodded, not wanting to open her mouth and babble, ruining the moment. Pepper was questioning this new side of Tony. He was acting _too_ nice and _too_ gentlemanly. She didn't know if she was appreciating it, although it did make her feel special. If was a rare sight for her and Tony to be together, alone. They were usually with Rhodey or someone else, but they liked to be alone together, it made them feel extremely happy.

This was the perfect time for Tony to make his move. No point in backing down now.

As Tony was going to halt their walk, touch Peppers shoulders and express all his deepest and sappy feelings towards her, their was a annoying, sidetracking sound. Or he could call it music or a tune coming out of a white and pink van. The ice cream van.

_"Just what I needed!"_ Tony thought sarcastically went he saw the red head's face light up, forgetting about him completely and only wandering about all the ice cream and popsicle flavors she could buy. She was distracted a little bit too easily.

"Tony! The ice cream truck is here! Let's buy something! I'm going to get chocolate...no! BANANA CHERRY ICE CREAM!" Pepper said excitingly, dragging Tony behind her for the second time this day.

They had paid for the ice cream and Tony was amazed and confused of where Pepper had kept her wallet. He thought it was seemingly impossible since she was sporting merely a small amount of fabric, with no pockets. He was annoyed since she didn't want to tell him and that just made him think about where she might of kept it. It made him seem so horny and that wasn't good, at all. He didn't feel any better when he saw Pepper slowing eating her ice cream in total bliss.

"Mmmmm...this so tasty, refreshing and good! How's yours Tony?" Pepper asked, sitting next to Tony on the soft sand that she was sifting through it with her free hand.

"Tony? You ok? You seem preoccupied, and your ice cream is melting onto your hand." Pepper said again. She also wanted to ask why he was staring at her with such complexity, but was too embarrassed to ask. He was probably just thinking about his newest invention and just happened to have his head in the clouds and glancing her way at the same time. She hoped it wasn't the reason though.

" Yeah, I'm fine... oh! My ice cream!"

Tony then jumped up, trying to wipe the ice cream off his hand. It made quite a mess, making his hand really sticky. Pepper just giggled, getting a napkin to clean his hand.

"Here, use this." Pepper said, putting her hand out, giving him the napkin.

"Thanks." Tony replied, blushing when they touched hands. This was getting out of hand, now he was blushing just because he touched her hand for two seconds, and it didn't help while she was in that deep blue bikini.

Now was Tony's... second chance since he had been annoyingly interrupted by the tune of a ice cream truck. He wouldn't let anything distract him or Pepper. He'll have to say it fast then.

Pepper had finished her icy dessert and Tony's had just melted.

Stark took both of Pepper's hands into his and exclaimed.

"Pepper! I have something to tell you...I...LO..." Not being able to continue, because it had just began to bucket it down.

_"Great... just great! It had to rain today of all days! Even if it hasn't rained for a week now! Mother nature just hates me!"_

"Come on Tony! I hear thunder and I'm starting to get cold!" Pepper squeaked, not liking thunder storms, and clutching Tony's arm. This time it was Tony's turn to drag Pepper behind him, bringing her to the car for shelter. Every time Pepper saw lightening or heard thunder, she clutched on to Tony's arm with more force. It hurt but it was worth it.

As they ran up to the car, Rhodey had the same idea as them and was already sitting in the car, with all their stuff in the trunk. Both Tony and Pepper then sat in the same seats they were in when they had arrived at the beach.

Rhodey turned around, looking at them from the front drivers seat.

"So I guess, we're heading home then. A shame though, we were having a great time...weren't we Tony." Rhodey said, emphasising Tony's name, because he was seeing how close Pepper was to him since she was still not liking the sound of thunder, even if they were in the car.

"Yeah...I guess. But let's go to the armory, it's too early to go home." Tony said, looking a bit discouraged and down, for not being able to get three little words into the ears of his favorite redhead. He'll have to try when they get to the armory. Now he had to try to get rid of Rhodey when they get there. What to do?

As they drove back to the bustling center of the city called New York, Tony was quite content of sitting in the car, next to the really close and scared Pepper, still clutching on to him arm.

_"I hope there will be no more distractions..."_ Tony thought.


	4. The Woman Under the Sunhat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a hot summer day and the trio of friends were too hot to do anything. To cool off, they go to the beach. What if all it took for Tony to realise how great his feelings are for Pepper is to see her in a bikini. How will he cope when he wants Pepper to be his girlfriend but can never find the right moment to do so? Will it even all happen at the beach? Or somewhere else?

Rhodey parked into a free parking space, that had took him quite a long time to find. He had actually waited for someone to leave and then quickly took that person's space before any other cars. Rhodey was very determined to get that parking space, so he did. It was quite an amusing speculation to watch for the two other teenagers that were sitting in the back seats. Also quite terrifying, thinking that their friend was getting quite competitive, yelling at a few other drivers. This was a first for the safety first car driver. They would never let Rhodey park in a overly populated car park ever again.

They had finally arrived, Tony was relieved, having to listen to Pepper ramble on and having cramps in his legs from the small leg room in the back of the Hyundai Veloster was getting quite unbearable. It was nice, getting to stretch his legs.

The beach was teeming with civilians. It was expected from the amount of cars that were in the parking lot. The tree friends did not care one bit about it, they were too hot to, even if they had cranked the AC to max in the car during the ride there.

Pepper looked around, using her hand to block the sun gleaming in her eyes and trying to locate a spot on the sand to lay down their towels and a big yellow parasol.

"Guys follow me! I found the perfect spot next to the pier! KYAA! This id going to be so fun!" The redhead squealed, wiping sweat off her brow.

The guys just nodded and followed their friend. Not bothering to respond, she would just talk over them anyway.

It was a convenient spot, not too close to the sea and not too far. The sand was clean and soft, with no big granules or rocks and luckily no crabs. Pepper picked perfectly.

As Rhodey and Pepper started to set up the folding chairs and parasol, Tony headed to the bathroom to change into his trunks. Forgetting to put them on at home like his two less forgetful friends did. Unluckily for him, when he rushed, he forgot a lot of things. Good job he at least remembered to bring his swim shorts.

Tony entered the bathroom, which was a wooden hut. He hated it, it was dirty, it smelled of dead rats combined with the scent of salt and sand was everywhere and in places Tony couldn't even fathom. He would of rather swim in his boxer but that would be embarrassing accompanied with a lot of staring. Something Tony already had a lot of since everyone knew he was Iron Man now and, well, he was teenage billionaire genius Tony Stark thinking rather bluntly. All he wanted to say, was , next time to change before leaving. If there was a next time.

Tony changed as quickly as possible, on tippy toes, trying not to step on something strange or gooey. He had even stood on the bench in the changing stall for the bench had less chance of being infected with less germs. Tony also had to be careful of someone opening his stall's door for the door lock was broken and didn't lock. The teen wasn't a clean freak or anything but this was just wrong. Didn't this beach ever hear of a janitor?

Finally the traumatizing moment was over and Tony ran quickly out of the hut, not even bothering of taking his shirt off. He had wanted to get out of the bathrooms as soon as possible.

Tony walked back to the pier, where he saw Rhodey waiting for him but not Pepper, she had disappeared.

"Hey Tony why did you get changed in the bathrooms? Everybody knows the number one rule; Do not step foot in public beach restrooms." Rhodey pointed out.

"How was I supposed to know if nobody ever told me... Rhodey" Tony said, trying to make a point. Of course he never knew about this 'rule' , the only beach he had ever went to was the private one his family owned, right next to his dad's villa in Italy.

"Well at least you know now." Rhodey said.

"Yea, but I would of liked to know sooner, so I would of been prepared."

"Tony, it's not like you were getting prepared to fight whiplash. Anyway, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Rhodey replied, finding this conversation funny and pointless.

Tony left it be and asked his friend,

"Hey where's Pepper. I thought she would wait for me."

Rhodes shrugged, "You know how impatient Pepper can be. She told me that you were taking too long so ran off to look for you."

"I was only gone for five minutes!"

"Well I guess, for Pepper, that's ages. But I know why you want to see her so badly. You want to see who hot she looks in a bathing suit." Rhodey laughed, making Tony blush.

Stark just ignored his sometimes annoying friend and looked around, trying to find his friend or as he could never call her out loud... crush.

Tony was getting confused, he couldn't see her.

 _"How can a redheaded woman be so hard to find?"_ The teen pondered, it was her idea to come her and he wanted to spend his time with her.

Meanwhile, Rhodey was just following his best friend, contemplating on how long it was going to take for Tony to spot his favorite redhead, since he had already spotted her.

Tony kept on looking, not giving up yet. During his 'spot the red head' game, he was deciding if he liked public beaches or not.

All the negative aspects were that it was really crowded, dozens of seagulls swarmed around, trying to snatch food from people's hands of plates and he thing Tony remembered as clear as day, the bathrooms were a living nightmare. But there was one thing that made Tony's hormones rise through the roof, the girls. The teenage girls, especially a certain young woman.

She was extremely hot. slender smooth and rather pale body. Long sexy thin legs. The girl sported an overly revealing black and navy blue string bikini that showed her stomach and her... breasts. He was quite disappointed since he couldn't see her face since she was wearing a yellow sun hat and she was standing, facing her side to him. He gulped, she was gorgeous.

Tony was rather puzzled, he felt really strange and hot, like the way he felt towards the lovely Pepper. He felt the urge to walk p to the girl and talk to her. But resisted his hormones, he shouldn't go, it would upset Pepper, the one he liked and would make it even harder to have a chance of being with her...one day.

Tony, however kept staring, thinking that he felt like he knew her somehow. Out of the blue, Rhodey, who had been watching his the whole time, had shaken him out of his thoughts and stares by his voice.

"Dude, I see you have finally spotted Pepper." Rhodey said, talking loud enough so only Tony could hear. He then slung his arm around Tony's shoulder, laughing. Rhodes was thinking about the look on Tony's face when he had seen Pepper, in the bikini. It was a face of total awe. He also found it hilarious that Stark had not noticed that it was her. He knew that she had a hat on, but come on it was his best friend. Tony was probably too focused on staring at her curves and edges.

Tony blushed furiously,

 _"That's Pepper! I can't believe I had all those dirty thoughts about her. Oh my gosh, the way I looked at her breasts!"_ Tony thought. He had never been so embarrassed in his whole life.

After a few moments, Tony found that it made much more sense now. All those feelings he was having wasn't toward another woman, it was towards Pepper, the only one who could get his heart beating that fast.

Stark glanced at her again, blushing. He had never seen Pepper in, well, almost nothing. Tony then felt a rush of anger and jealousy. He could see many guys eying her up, it made him want to punch them.

 _"Why would she wear something that made her look so... exposed!"_ Tony screamed internally. He was the only one allowed to see her like that, not even Rhodey.

Tony then started thinking to himself again, not even noticing Rhodey next to him, with his friend's arm still around his shoulders.

_"Why am I thinking that! She's not mine, she's not my girlfriend... but maybe she should be, I know I like her, or maybe even more that that."_

Tony's spirits lifted, but he became nervous. he wouldn't know how to ask or even how to commence the conversation, knowing that he would become a bumbling idiot and then not making any sense. But he would still try, it couldn't be that hard. Could it?

Once again, Rhodey knocked him out of LaLa land.

"Tony, are you just going to stand there and look pretty or are going to go talk to her, she is looking for you. Go quickly, before some guy goes there before you and chat's her up. You don't want that now, do you?" Rhodey then gave his friend a little push forward.

Tony got jealous, again, not wanting anyone to talk to her or even worse, touch her bare skin. He walked up to her, speed walking and tapper her shoulder from behind.

 _"Calm down Tony, it's Pep, the person you've been talking to for years!"_ Tony thought, giving himself a pep-talk **(A/N: no pun intended!)**

When Tony tapped Pepper's shoulder, she immediately turned around. When she saw it was Tony her face lit up and she took her hat off. Pepper was so relieved, she had been trying to find him, but then got distracted by a cute little dog she really wanted to pet.

When Pepper had taken her hat off, Tony found Pep even more beautiful, with her stunning features, freckles and soft short red hair flowing to her shoulders.

"Tony! There you are! I have been trying to look for you, but then I got distracted by a cute dog. You should of seen it, it was so cute and soft with adorable tiny ears! It's name was Fido, funny isn't it? Why does everyone call their dog Fido? I am so hot and sweaty! Aren't you? Come on let's go swim!" At the end of the non-stop mumbling, Pepper grabbed Tony's hand before he could get a word in and ran into the glistening blue water. Splashing Tony with all her might.


	5. The Practically Perfect Pepper Potts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a hot summer day and the trio of friends were too hot to do anything. To cool off, they go to the beach. What if all it took for Tony to realise how great his feelings are for Pepper is to see her in a bikini. How will he cope when he wants Pepper to be his girlfriend but can never find the right moment to do so? Will it even all happen at the beach? Or somewhere else?

Pepper had run out of the door swiftly, pacing as fast as her legs could take her to her house. She felt awfully bad about screaming at her friends like that for no apparent reason. Well she knew the reason, but her friends couldn't possibly know. To boys, girls were obviously complicated and not emotionally stable. How did she know what went on in an eighteen year old boy's head? It was simple, she was around two of them practically all day and everyday.

She caught up on some boyish opinions by just listening on to their, as they called it 'manly conversations'. Manly was certainly not the word, the word she would describe their conversations as was 'insignificant to their needs'.

Pepper wasn't being visited by the monthly monsters… ok… she was, but that wasn't the reason she got all hysterical. Ok, that was part of the reason, but it wasn't the whole picture. Not at all. Her outburst were numerous emotions jumbled up all together and coming out all at once accidently. And one of those emotions was confusion. Why confusion you ask?

Her confusion was lighted by the one and only Tony Stark. He had acted strange at the beach, trying to get her alone, trying to ditch Rhodey. Pepper noticed also that it seemed he wanted to tell her something and she really wanted to know what. She also really wanted to know what he thought her as. Just a friend or something passing that boundry.

The redhead always noticed a lot more things that normal people do. She was the daughter of a detective. The genes were passed on to her or at least they had rubbed off from her dad and on to her.

Her rising temper was also subject from the shaky nerves she had gotten from the long duration of her terrifying phobia, storms. She had never told anybody the reason she was scared of thunder and lighting. Why her body tensed up and needed to hold tightly on to someone. It was on of the few things she never wanted to talk about. And that was a lot coming from Pepper Potts.

Her phobia was evoked from when she was little. It was the day of her mother's departure. The day her mother chose to leave her and her father behind.

**[Flashback...eleven years ago]**

_That day it was pouring down with rain, lighting flashes coming from behind Pepper's bedroom curtains as she hid beneath her covers. Whimpering, she could hear her parents screaming at each other. Pain struck her heart when she heard three words come out of her mother's mouth. 'I am leaving'. Pepper shuddered when she heard the front door open and then shut hard. Pepper was only seven but she knew what was going on and she didn't like it one bit. She wanted to be a happy family, but that was thrown out the window swiftly. Tears flooded her eyes and she crawled into a ball, still hearing the thunder booming outside. This rumble sounded exactly like the sound the door made when it slammed behind her abandoning mother and now she knew that sound would always remind her of abandonment, sadness and anger._

_A knocking on the child's door sounded a hour after her mother had left, indefinably._

_"Honey...can I come in?" Her fathers weak voice sounded on the other side of the door._

_Pepper kept quiet, keeping her cries and sniffling at a minimum. Her dad could still hear his little angel weeping even if she tried best to hide it. He entered anyway. Pepper glanced at her father, his eyes were red and broken._

_"Daddy...why did mommy leave? Does she hate me? Am I not good enough?" Pepper whimpered, keeping her head lowered._

_"No...no angel your the practically perfect Pepper Potts. Mommy just...needs to leave for a while." He said, sitting on her bed, starting to stoke his daughter's red hair._

_"It's ok daddy...you don't have to lie...we'll be fine right Daddy?" Pepper said, trying to cheer her dad up. She knew she had to be a big girl and help her dad through this bump in the road._

_"I'm sorry Virginia, I tried but she left us. Don't hate me." Mr. Potts said, tears starting to trickle down his face. He then felt a little hand wiping them away._

_Pepper smiled compassionately at her beloved father and whispered in his ear._

_"I don't hate you Daddy. I love you. We can still be a family and I will be a good girl for you."_

_"I love you too sweetie, I promise I will never let you go and will always be there for you."_

_"Yeah...me too." Pepper exclaimed, smiling, although still crying for she would never see her mother again._

_Another rumble resounded through the walls and Pepper cried even more. Her father took her into his arms and said._

_"Shhh, I'm here...don't cry...shhh." He cradled Pepper until she fell asleep._

_In the midst of Pepper falling asleep, pepper asked;_

_"Together forever?"_

_"Yeah, together forever."_

**[End flashback]**

Pepper notice tears forming down her cheeks from reminiscing about that awful night.

Every time Pepper thought about her mother, all she could think about was selfishness. How her mother just thought about her needs and not the scars she left on her daughter and husband. She rarely thought about her mother because it made her feel extremely angry. Pepper took a deep breath, calming herself down.

So her big outburst were a combination of three things. PMS, the confusing Tony and the thunder storm, hence thinking about her mother. They were all good reasons for getting mad and three of them combined would make someone snap. Like Pepper did...towards her clueless friends. Oh...what a day. What a never ending day. And it seemed like it was only the beginning.

Pepper ran into her house and past her dad who was sitting on the couch, watching some Spanish soap opera. He had some weird TV preferences. But all dads had something their kids thought of as embarrassing. And watching Spanish soap operas were on the bottom of the weirdness list, especially since other peoples parents were way worst. For example, some parents show their kid's naked baby photos to their friends or tells their kid that they love them while they are just entering school. Now those parents were the embarrassing ones.

Pepper lay on her bed, face smothered by her pillow, not moving. She knew she had to go back and apologise to her friends, but she didn't feel like it right now. She didn't want to tell them the reason she lashed out on them. What could she say.

_"Oh hey, I screamed at you because its that time of the month, you are confusing me by not telling me your feelings Tony and I think of my bitch of a mother who abandoned me when there is a thunder storm."_

No, she couldn't tell them that, but she didn't want to make up some other reason, the only thing she could do is to just apologise and hope her friends wouldn't ask any more questions. Pepper also had acknowledged that she would need to apologise a bit more to Tony, for he was more the target she had sent all her anger on rather than Rhodey who was just standing in the background.

After her pondering, Pepper turned her head, looking at her clock on her bedside table. It indicated that it was 5:47. how the time flew. Pepper was shocked. She had unintentionally stayed on her bed for a little under a hour. Her stomach growled, she clutched it, she hadn't eaten since eating ice cream at the beach. And that happened at 2:00.

Pepper got off her mattress, slowly making her way to the kitchen for a snack.

Pepper tried not to make too much sound since she knew her dad was sleeping in the other room, on the couch. How did she know? He snored, quite loudly.

She opened the fridge looking for something to eat. What was she craving? Like all teenagers, a Nutella sandwich **(A/N: If you do not know what wonderful Nutella sandwich is. It's creamy chocolate spread on a slice of bread. Mmmm. Yummy!)**

The redhead took a seat at the dining room table and ate her sandwich. It cheered her up. The chocolaty goodness, tingling her taste buds and pallet.

Pepper knew she would go to the armoury in the morning, that was her decision.

...

...

Tony was sitting, tapping his fingers on the steel plated table in front of him, waiting to see if Pepper would come back. When she rushed out the door, he was contemplating to rush after her, but Pepper looked like she wanted to cool off, alone. So he respected her feelings. Even if he had no clue why she got so rowdy. She must have a lot on her plate for getting that angry over something so small. Tony continued to rack his brain for anything that could be making Pepper so distressed. He had zilch.

"Tony, will you stop tapping! It's annoying especially since I'm trying to do my math homework. Some people take more than five minutes to complete it." Rhodey grumbled, seated on a newly bought green beanbag, with homework on lap.

Tony turned his head to Rhodey, with a blank expression. Like he was in a daze.

"Sorry, I didn't notice, I was thinking."

Rhodey's left eyebrow lifted.

"About Pepper? Why don't you go talk to her She probably went to her house." Rhodes said, trying to convince his friend.

"You saw how pissed she looked and sounded, over some small cleaning problem. I should let her cool down." Tony sighed, then shivered when he thought about what had happened. He didn't know Pepper had it in her to look so...scary. She was the last person he would think of as...scary.

"I know, I know. But I think you have another reason for not going...a little thing we call procrastination."

"Why would I be procrastinating?" Tony asked, not understanding where this conversation was heading.

"Because you're too chicken to ask her to be your girlfriend." Rhodey crossed his arms, looking smug, knowing he was right. Also with a slight grin on his visage.

Tony stared wide eyed, needing to repeat what his friend had just said to make sure he heard correctly. He had heard correctly.

"How did you know I was going to-"

Rhodey interrupted, explaining.

"Come on Tony, you were acting weirder than usual at the beach. And not only because of that bikini incident. Wanting to spend a lot of time alone with Pepper. Ditching me, buying ice cream, trying to say something important but then getting interrupted when it rained."

" Hey how do you know about the ice cream...oh...You were following us?! I should of known" Stark slightly yelled, and he thought he was spending time alone with Pepper but there was a third wheel.

"What else was I supposed to do? Watching you confess to Pepper in a probably babbling, humiliating way...who wouldn't want to watch that!" Rhodey laughed, picturing it in his head.

"I certainly am **not** going to embarrass myself. Anyway, I will never know for sure since every time I get bombarded by a stupid distraction. And you know Pepper, she easily gets distracted." Tony whined, he was getting annoyed a lot today.

"Ok, chill dude. Talk to her tomorrow, she'll probably come to the armoury in the morning like she always does. I'll just 'supposedly' sleep in and leave you two love birds alone. And just to help, know what you're going to say before you start a conversation with her, then you will have less of a chance of making a fool out of yourself. But you'll probably do it anyway."

"Thanks for that reassuring comment." Tony sarcastically responded. This made him even more antsy. Tony Stark A.K.A Iron Man, losing his courage over a girl. Who knew?

"No problem. So are you going to take my advice?" Rhodey asked, waiting for an answer with haste.

"Yeah, all right. I'll do just that." Tony said simply, not even thinking about it first. He had no idea why he was taking love advice from Rhodey who had never had a girlfriend before either. But he was willing to take that chance. Tony just hoped that Pepper would turn up in the morning like she usually did. If not, he'll have to go to her.

Rhodey went back to his math homework. Finally, after all these years, they would be a couple. Well, he hoped. He had waited a long time for them to get together. He could wait another day. He was happy they went to the beach, where everything started.


	7. Back to the Drawing Board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a hot summer day and the trio of friends were too hot to do anything. To cool off, they go to the beach. What if all it took for Tony to realise how great his feelings are for Pepper is to see her in a bikini? How will he cope when he wants Pepper to be his girlfriend but can never find the right moment to do so? Will it even all happen at the beach? Or somewhere else?

The storm had died down when the trio of friends were halfway to the armory. Pepper had stopped clutching on to Tony's chest and he felt somewhat disappointed.

From the lack of closeness and Pepper's fear, the two teenagers weren't able to put their clothes on so they were still in their bathing attire. But now that Pepper's fear had vanished from the lack of lightning flashes and booming thunder, they were now able to at least put their clothes over their damp swimming suits.

The rest of the car ride was inexplicably uneventful, everybody just sat in silence, looking out their side windows, except Rhodey who was concentrating on safely driving.

The only time silence was broken was when Pepper exclaimed that she saw some cows huddling together in a pasture.

"Hey Tony! Look at those cows, they look so cute huddled all together like that!" Pepper said, pulling on Tony's white shirt for his attention.

"Don't cows do that when it's going to rain?" Tony pondered, not knowing any knowledge about these milk giving mammals.

Rhodey entered the conversation.

"Cows sit down when it's about to rain." Rhodey explained.

"How are you a cow expert?" Tony asked, brow lifted, slightly mocking his friend.

"General knowledge, some things you just overhear or see on TV. Not surprised you didn't know, you never watch TV." Rhodey mocked, getting back at his friend.

"Ha ha ha…very funny Rhodes." Stark said sarcastically giving Rhodey a small glare which Rhodey noticed from the rear view mirror.

Pepper seeing her two friends running out of things to say picked up the conversation again.

"Did you know that cows have four stomachs!? It's like… alien!" Pepper said, still continuing the subject about cows.

"Pepper, talking about cows is getting a bit boring." Rhodey stated, sighing, wanting some peace and quiet. What? Sometimes he wanted some silence. He already had enough of Pepper's babbling on the way to the beach.

Pepper huffed, not getting how much her talking could annoy people, looking out the window again. She stayed mute for the rest of the way, half hoping that it wouldn't rain again but also half hoping it would because then she would have an excuse for holding on to Tony…again. Pepper's face blushed the color red for she was reminiscing about how built Tony's body and arms had felt.

Tony enjoyed the silence. Sometimes he did like the ramblings of Pepper but right now he just wanted to think…about Pepper for he still hadn't made a move on her and was getting…how do I put it…quite aggravated for not being able to. Damn all the ice cream trucks and damn Mother Nature.

They has finally arrived at the armory, Rhodey had parked the car a small distance from the entrance of the temple. They didn't want to head home yet, it was too early.

The teenagers got out of the car and smelt the refreshing smell of when it had just rained. Dew and freshly cut grass. Although it still felt humid and slightly sticky, the temperature decreased by a few degrees from the grey clouds shielding the sun from pushing through, heating the city up again.

Pepper loved the delightful odour rain makes after it had ceased. She hated when it rain but she still loved how the air smelt after the storm was over. She had some particular likes. But, after all, she was Pepper.

The teens entered the spacey armoury with tools, wires and spare parts spread everywhere in it. Even on the floor. It was quite a mess, but they were used to it. The best inventors have the messiest workshops. And Tony was one of the best. He did create the Iron Man armor after all.

They all found a place to sit comfortably and made themselves at home, it was actually, as they can call it, their second home. The one they can chill out in, armour up, strategize and be themselves in, knowing it was just them, with nobody watching or criticizing them. It was their home out of home, safe haven, armory, invention lab and they had many other names they called it.

Pepper always tried her best keeping the armory at least presentable for her eyes. Sweeping the floors and picking the molding old food off the floor for rats not to eat. She hoped there wasn't any rats nor cockroaches, but she wouldn't be surprise if any little visitors came one day if she stopped cleaning up the mess her two best friends always seemed to make.

She would turn around for an instant and there would already be another mess to clean up. She was getting really fed up telling them to stop making messes. Especially Tony.

"Guys! I had just cleaned yesterday! How can it be already so...MESSY!" Pepper screamed, the instant she had set foot inside. When Pepper was angry, she had a kind of tone and it always made Tony and Rhodey cringe.

"Relax Pep, it's not as bad as you make it out to be." Tony said, trying to calm Pepper down.

"RELAX?RELAX! Stark I will not relax! I give up! I will never clean an inch of this...this...DUMP again!" Pepper screamed once again, storming out of the armoury.

As she left, Rhodey whispered to Tony.

"Dude I think she's snapped. Why do you think? She never get's that angry by just a little mess."

"I have no idea what the hell just happened..." Tony said, looking shocked. Great...how will he ever confess now.

"Do you think..." Rhodey moved a little closer to Tony, still whispering, afraid Pepper could hear, "the monthly monster has come?"

"What?...Oh that...how am I supposed to know!?" Tony blushed, all boys got uncomfortable about these...feminine things. He just hoped that he would find out why Pepper was...fuming.

_"I guess I'm back to the drawing board about asking Pepper to be my girlfriend..."_ Tony sighed, this was getting too complicated for his own good.


End file.
